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Tonight's Card Pod - EPISODE 2 - Sept 18, 2026 · Tonight's Card

• Jonathan Crawford: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to tonight's card featuring SportsCard Cartel, SCC, and Toronto Card Collector, TCC. Tonight we discuss PSA, BGS, SGC, OPP, all the acronyms that you could possibly think of. Now SCC, how are you doing tonight? Cartel: I'm doing great, TCC. I am, as usual, your friendly neighborhood cartel. How's it going, hobby heroes and hobby hosers? And it's another round of tonight's card, isn't it, TCC? Jonathan Crawford: It is, it is. We're excited to be back for round two and we're gonna see how it goes tonight. We got a lot of fun things to talk about, a lot of news, a lot of hobby pickups, and let's see what happens. Cartel: Absolutely, and hopefully like all those great sequels in the past, like Godfather Two, the second season of Sopranos, the two thousand and nine Topps round two set. Hopefully we will live up to the the the sequels of the past. TCC, we I'm gonna be c calling you TCC a lot, I guess, John, but we recently Jonathan Crawford: I dig it, I dig it. Cartel: we recently did a show this past weekend. You couldn't really walk too many miles in town without ending. up at a card show this past weekend. and we've also got the Montreal Sports Card Expo coming up towards the end of the month. Sure, we'll touch on in a future episode. But we did we did attend a show. we did vend at a show. when I say vend, I use the term loosely, there was a lot of trading going on, but wanted to pick your brain, get your thoughts on our show this past weekend. We went to the one hosted by CSC. there were a few other shows in the area. how'd you feel about the show? Jonathan Crawford: Well, I'll be honest. I knew obviously that it was being promoted as a sports card show. That was kind of the whole point of the show. but I'm glad that I brought my Pokemon card inventory with me because that was the majority of the deals that I did. I did some selling, I did some trading, did some buying, of almost exclusively Pokemon cards. So I'm kind of glad that I brought that. I mean, I did have my wrestling inventory as well. and I had some eyeballs on it, but not much action there. It was pretty much all Pokemon all the time. I don't know, how was it for you? Cartel: Well, you get a lot of looks no matter what, because wrestling tends to draw people just in general. Like if the y you get a lot of looking and poking around and stories from people that are waxing nostalgic about some of the stuff they're seeing or they're just really excited to see stuff that they didn't know existed. You're not necessarily making any sales or deals, but you're getting a lot of that and then of course Pokemon draws a lot of people. And I don't know what that's like because I don't have Pokemon in my display cases. but yeah, what you mentioned is interesting because we chose the show that was kind of advertised as a sports card show, which is very much not the norm as of late. you will see shows that are kind of hybrids and it's quite obvious they're a hybrid or they are expressly advertised as a Pokemon TCG show. And when we say Pokemon and TCG, we should really be careful now because there's so much action when it comes to One Piece. You, I saw you. You didn't think I saw you, but you were doing some rift bounding. I saw that. You cannot hide that. And so there's yeah and L Jonathan Crawford: Guilty, guilty. It's Lauren's fault. He he forced it on me. Cartel: Lauren it has a way. And so so very a lot of variety in in that TCG world. How was it for me? It's always a fun time. And it's always great chatting with people, strangers, brand new, or or people that you haven't seen in a little while, or the people that you see on the show circuit. you'll hear it a lot, it's a cliche, but a lot of the relationships and friendships that you get out of the show circuit, almost as valuable in many different ways, emotionally, mentally, and financially, as as the deals done on The show floor. I did a lot of trading. Is it me or was there not a lot of cash being traded on the show on the show floor this time out? Jonathan Crawford: I mean, I heard from one larger vendor that he did pretty well. I don't know if that was deals that were already kind of lined up, or what the case was there. But I mean f for me personally it was a lot of smaller deals, families, kids. that's one thing that's different too about Pokemon, is it's a lot of you know, you're you're trading with with small kids and it's a lot of e Cartel: Yeah. Jonathan Crawford: educating them, right? Like educating them of like they come up to me with cars. I don't know what this is worth. Well let's take a look together. Well let's open the collector app. You know, we can see together what what the value is, try to work out of a fair deal for them. so yeah, kind of to your point of of relationship building, that's something that I've kind of enjoyed a lot of recently with with the Pokemon dealing is just I mean obviously there's part of me that is a dealer, I I want to, you know, turn inventory, whatever. But then another part of me is like it is kind of fun, you know, meeting new people, building these new relationships and like educating people, kids, youth, whoever, as they're kind of starting along their journey into the hobby. Cartel: It it is all subjective in terms of when someone says they've done well. You sell a single card and do well. certainly this isn't I'm I'm not trying to imply this situation where I didn't sell a card and I did actually That's objective as well. One person's larger card is 10K plus, one person's larger card's 500 bucks. But it just it, you know, from our perspective and from walking around a little bit, there was dealing going on, but I I didn't get the sense that there was a lot of cash exchanging hands, kind of like it does at a Pokemon show or some of the shows we've been at more recently. But nonetheless, it's always a good time. Are there too many shows going on? I I have a bigger question for you that you touched on. but I'm gonna get back to that in a second. Are there too many shows? Like so there were I believe four that weekend. And when I say that, obviously there's even more than four in all of Canada and the United States. But we're talking about our small area. I'm always careful with the term GTA, but you know, pretty close. I think there was like four of them. Too many? You and I find ourselves in situations where we're trying to figure out where we want to be, how we wanna be, and making those decisions. and getting stretched thin perhaps. And there were people I think traveling from show to show. What was your perspective on that? Jonathan Crawford: Yeah, that's something I wanted to touch on too. Is I just wish that more show organizers would communicate or collaborate or I I mean obviously I've never organized a show before, so I don't know all the logistics of it, but it just seems like with the technology we have now, I mean our our mutual friend Neil has a calendar that he updates pretty regularly. You know, you can kind of R right, exactly. So we have the tools where we'll hopefully reduce overlap as much as possible because it does feel like there's a lot of weekends where people are kind of fighting for attention, fighting for foot traffic and it seems like an unnecessary thing if we just have a bit more communication we can kind of plan these things out better. again, this is a dealer's perspective. I haven't organized a show before, so I don't know how that actually works specifically, but it's yeah, it's not great Cartel: You you'd love to believe in this concept of people working together hand in hand and saying to themselves, if we have a show where it's you know, it's free to get in, we're advertising Anthony Stellarz and that other young Maple Leafs goaltender whose name is always escaping me, the young Russian kid, and it's being advertised as a sport show. Kinda prioritize that. I don't know what's involved when it comes to having a market that or maybe a little bit of organization. But then there's also shows that plan out way ahead in advance and are popular and have their continuous support of of certain dealers. People become brand loyal. I certainly understand that. I'm brand loyal about electronics and many other things. So I get that. but yeah it was a it was, you know, again I'm trying to be be not so negative. But It was a little disappointing in terms of a turnout for a show that was so, you know, specifically advertised as being sports cards and there was a lot of people wondering, maybe that is kind of a sign of the times, essentially, and that maybe it's more detrimental to advertise it just as a sports show. Just call it a card show and hope that people assume that there'll be Pokemon there and that there will be Pokemon there. It's part and parcel. Jonathan Crawford: That's a that's a really good point actually. I wonder even yeah, I think it is almost detrimental at this point. Like I just call it a card show and people are gonna come because this was literally advertised sports card show and there were tons and tons of people looking for T CG, even though it was a sports card show. So that's maybe that's the play going forward. Just call it a card show and hope you get as many people to come as possible. Cartel: Listen, ulti ultimately the barometer is the expo and the expo never fails, year after year, year after every half year. never really fails, always an amazing time, always full of activity. people are buying, people are dealing. It's always the culmination of the seasons, so to speak, when it comes to the hobby. And so we look forward to that. That's in November in Toronto, and we are off to Montreal at the end of the month for our first experience with the Montreal Expo. It'll be my my first expo outside of Toronto. We'll be interesting. The bearded buds of the of of the Tonight's Card podcast will be there. and getting to our next section, I was really hoping I could create something there where I could flow to it, but I failed. we are gonna talk about tops wrestling in UFC specifically WWF and UFC WWE Both in in terms of the fact that, you know, remember that there was a Panini era in each sports niche that you and I get into. And there's also kind of the adapt adaptation to the new era. And as sp specifically, I'm really having trouble with this, John. I'm not really sure. I may have had a stroke just now. But we're talking about the relics and we're talking about the fact that there was something very unique going on in the sense that a lot of the materials, relics, gear, what have you, particularly in the pre-Panini era, featured really important relics that that were dated, that were match dated, event dated. And we kinda lost sight of that. and I think more and more people are paying attention and are going to pay attention to it because it's really cool. I was going to say really effing cool. I just don't know if we have the right to do that just yet. I don't know if we're an adult channel. But I don't I don't know if I Yeah. I don't know Jonathan Crawford: Maybe we'll we'll keep it clean for now and then we can kind of see down the road. Cartel: if I'm an adult and I don't know if this is an adult channel. Jonathan Crawford: Yeah. Cartel: But w let's talk a little bit about that because we have some really cool pieces and I want more and I hope I don't miss the bus, so to speak, when it comes to that sort of thing. But just to start us off, you know, Topps had the UFC license from 2009 up until 2020. Now the when I say that it's funny. What was the first WWE release? Was it also twenty twenty-one? Or was it twenty twenty-two? I don't know why I feel like it was twenty twenty two. Jonathan Crawford: From from tops. Cartel: From Panini. Jonathan Crawford: Panini. It was twenty twenty one. No. no no no sorry, twenty twenty two. Twenty it was twenty two to twenty four. Yes. Cartel: Okay, so it so it was a year after. So it was a year after UFC. So Topps had the UFC up until twenty twenty, good ten, eleven year run. classic releases, all of them undervalued, all of them getting more looks now folks. Shelf full of every complete set up till about 2013, except for I haven't completed round one, go figure. That that's gonna take off, in my opinion. But nonetheless, getting back to the whole concept, they were using gear and relic on those pieces that came from specific events, and they told you that on the back of Not gonna sit here and confidently tell you that was 100% of the time, but most of those subsets, particularly when they were releasing finest and I believe bloodlines, I remember seeing the information on the back. And you know, time goes on. All these historic events have happened these past few years. Panini gets licensed, Topps gets it back, and you kind of forget, you kind of it kind of slips your mind. An account called MMA Rookies is very much into kind of becoming a historian of the UFC Topps releases and and MMA in general. So you can go there and find out about the the the ghost Fedora Melanenko autograph rookie card. You could go there and find out about all the other Hall of Famers and legends. and obviously the the One that kind of has really captured people's minds is the fact that you could own a piece of the map from Habib Nirmedov's first fight in the UFC. And we're talking about a guy who's arguably in the discussion for greatest of all time. Some people will say so without any hesitation. Some people will fight you when it comes to John Jones, Anderson Silva, Georges Saint Pierre, and names like that. But nonetheless, Habib comes up quite a bit, and I love whenever we open. The plastic. I heard you last episode. Now I'm opening the plastic here, John. Jonathan Crawford: Yeah. Cartel: Now, UFC fans are gonna get a bit of a kick out of this because not the best kind of kick, because this is Pat Berry. And Pat Berry, not everybody loves Pat Berry. Pat Berry started dating Rosanama Junas when she was very young. So Pat Berry's not the most popular dude to collect in general. However This piece of matte, which is red, and I own multiple colors, because I'm FOMO and a bandwagoner. these are not cards that I were my original 2009 through 2012 collection. This is 2012 Tops U of C Finest and as as you can see on the back of this card, and it's not the only one. there is there there is also once it comes back into my head, there's another fighter, Jim Miller, who was in the main event and actually won, I believe, the main event. Could be wrong. Man, he was in the main event, and Jim Miller won most of his fights. he's also got a mat from this event, so it's just a different fighter, same card, same style, same subset. And on the back, this is an authentic finest fight mat jumbo relic card from 2012 Tops UFC Finest of Pat Barry. He is the fighter that they're referencing. And the relic contained on this card came specifically. You love that wording. Do you see that wording much these days on the back of cards? From UFC. FX1, which is that old Fox channel. That's the event. Mirmigomedov walked on this canvas. beat a guy up on this canvas, I think he won by sub. It wasn't quick. I know that. and this red piece correlates with an advertisement for the UFC video game. So you can you know you can even match it up that way. It's it's wild. And it's a very unique collectible that is not super accessible in people's minds because of the fact that they're gonna see a Pat Berry card or a Jim Miller card. I think the Jim Miller card's cooler because he was in the main event and I think he won. But again These are mats that were used the night Habib Nurmegomedov came into the UFC and we're talking Shohei Otani level if you're trying to compare it. Sydney Crosby level, I I some people might laugh at that, but this is the reality, Habib Nurmigomedov retired undefeated and did amazing things in the sport and remains so by coaching the top guys like Islam Makhachev right now. give us some WWF examples because WWF had that license through from the eighties until, like you said, 2021. And then tell us about the new ones too. Jonathan Crawford: Absolutely. Yeah. So the my favorite one that I have right now is from 2001. it's actually Fleer. 2001 FLEAR Skybox. so this one is a dual. Well, it's a Stone Cold and the Rock. this is you have received a piece of a match used ring mat used during the WrestleMania seventeen world heavyweight title match. So this is Cartel: So wait, there's a f there's a few things going on here. So FLIR Skybox. So I'm Jonathan Crawford: Yeah. Cartel: I guess in my personal experience I'm missing when when someone else had the property. Is that an upper deck release or is that just a FLIR release at the time? Do you know as it say on the back? Jonathan Crawford: yeah it says FLIR, two thousand one FLIR. And it's officially licensed WWF. yeah, FLIR Skybox International. Cartel: So the pro so so the property must have floated around a little bit before Panini took it on. Because I I definitely remember having tops cards that tell you that this is from this SummerSlam or it's from this Survivor series. Tell me Jonathan Crawford: For sure. Yeah, I think those those are later on. Those are later on. Yeah. Cartel: Yeah, tell me that a mat from one of the most historic turns of all time when Austin turned on the on well he didn't turn on the rock per se, but he joined Vince Vince McMahon at Triple H as two-man powertrap. But and and and by the way, many people consider WrestleMania seventeen to be the greatest WrestleMania of all time, so is that not a piece of mat that all of those wrestlers, Benoit, Engle, Triple H, The Undertaker tread on that night. Jonathan Crawford: So this is the wild thing about this card is that I I actually got the flawless dual relic, a gold dual relic out of 10 for Stone Cold and the Rock, which I thought was amazing. I love that card. but unfortunately, because it's Panini era, it's not associated, right? The relics aren't associated with any event or whatever. So after I got that flawless dual relic. I don't even remember how I found this card, honestly. I don't know if I I might have been just searching on eBay for Stone Cold and Rock cards. And I just saw the front of it. I'm like, that looks like a cool card. didn't think too much of it. And then I saw I looked on the back, the back picture, and that's when I was like, that's from WrestleMania 17. Like you said, the most famous WrestleMania of all time. and yeah. Match used ring mat. And honestly, like the thing that blew my mind too was the the price that I paid for the flawless relic, which again, beautiful card, and it's Cartel: Yeah. Jonathan Crawford: a gold out of ten. But like the price compared to what I paid for this match used ring mat was astronomical. Like I feel like this was the steel of a century. after I found out what it was actually from. And so yeah, really happy to pick this piece up. few months ago, but just amazing, amazing piece. Cartel: These cards are going to blow up. It's inevitable. Once people kind of get a grip on this, these cards are gonna blow up. they don't do multiple mats. The mat you're watching when you're watching WrestleMania 17, that's that's the mat. So incredible, incredible stuff that is inevitably gonna hit the radar. Whether whether or not our podcast has the viewership to do that just yet, who knows? maybe we put It that way for right now, Jonathan. But Jonathan Crawford: Ha ha ha. Cartel: we shall see. now the newer stuff, unfortunately, and I immediately think of the big and I believe it was immaculate release of UFC. You wouldn't know this, would you? I don't think UFC had anything beyond Immaculate. Jonathan Crawford: Yeah, I'm not sure. Cartel: think they had a flawless. But I do remember the Immaculate releases did not. You'd get these glove pieces and stuff like that. Some of them, some of them I believe, were were were fighter worn but not specified. certainly not specified. But a lot of them weren't. and I and I think that's the case with the wrestling high-end stuff too from Canadian, right? And tops lately, I don't know, but what what do you do you have any insight on that? And and I do I know you have an example that that kind of is different. Jonathan Crawford: Yeah, so some of the Immaculate and Impeccable was superstar worn. To your point, it's not a specific event typically, as far as I know, but the majority of it was either superstar worn or not associated. and yeah, flawless and national treasures, none of it was associated with the superstar event, whatever. but that's the nice thing now about tops having the license again. And having more access to the superstars athletes. There's a lot more on card autos. There's a lot more relics that are associated with the superstar. So this one in particular that I have from the Topps era, the new Tops era, is from 2025 Tops Royalty. so I'll put it up on the screen here. So this relic was worn by Tiffany Stratton at her SmackDown debut on February 2nd, 2024. Right. So again, going back to this is the exact date that it was used. This is the event, you know, certified by Topps with an on-card autograph. You know, this is the kind of stuff that collectors dream of, right? And royalty was a product that I think has been fantastic. You know, Topps really did a great job with it. And it actually it makes me even more excited for Dynasty whenever that comes comes out. I think those are gonna be some amazing pieces as well. kind of as a follow up to, you know, the WrestleMania patch autographs that have been lighting the market on fire recently. Cartel: Root of all of this, all of this is collecting. and that doesn't hold true for every individual. I know that. There are some people that are very cold and calculating within the hobby. You and I deal with some of them. we also deal with some very intense PC collectors, Ripley, Charlotte Flair. In the UFC realm, I'm I'm a big PC guy. I know a lot of creep. Zombie collectors. Collecting is so key in all of this. And I talk about this as it relates to all these different companies. It comes into play when we hear stories about the eBay authentication system having issues with the way that they store the card. It comes into play with certain auction houses, the way they deliver their cards, if they're not in a if they're not sleeved, if if there's stickers on the slab. The basics, the fundamentals of collecting. And of course, if you're gonna be offering patches. and the concept of game use, get as specific as possible, get as interesting as possible, get creative. like WrestleMania X7 X7 dual match of the two main eventors, like it's a no-brainer. Get creative. These companies need to be on top of this stuff and recognize who they really want to appeal to. deepest level it affects the first market when it comes to buying the product to try to get cards like that and the aftermarket because people will be chasing those cards that have been created with the collector in mind. And the way the cards are delivered obviously the condition of the cards, the QC, which we've not touched on yet because we haven't really deep dived on a on a Jonathan Crawford: That's a whole nother topic entirely, but j just Cartel: It is, yeah. Jonathan Crawford: yeah, just quickly, I d I just wanna say like that's something that's impressed me honestly with Pops taking back over is the access that they have to these athletes now. I'm I'm assuming it's similar with Cartel: And and and when you say tops you mean fanatics at the end of the day, right? Jonathan Crawford: Absolutely, yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, we can talk for for hours and hours about our thoughts on fanatics or tops, but I think one positive that we can all agree on is the access that they have now, these specific event use relics, you know, the on card autographs, the debut patches, all these type of things, like these are these are amazing pieces that are coming out. at a pretty consistent basis now. So I think me personally I've been pretty impressed with a lot of a lot of the products that has been coming out in terms of relics and autographs. Cartel: Yeah. And I've I've been, you know, fair fairly happy and impressed with the designs and the presentations of some big autograph cards, on card autograph cards. Again, collectors, we want on card autographs over stickers, relevant dual autographs. If you're gonna do a multi autograph, make it relevant. People don't want, you know, the classic cases of of having like Sid Sydney Crosby on the same cart as as as a lower tier penguin or someone who didn't make it. I can't come up with an immediate example, but you know what I mean. So making it relevant in that sense. so anyhow we I did want to move on, but I did I forgot, kind of rewinding back to the whole to the whole show thing. It's gonna be kinda awkward putting it in right now, but you had mentioned dealing with the younger generation at at the shows. And it's relevant in the world of TCG. It's relevant in all the worlds, but and it also comes into play in wrestling. But it's relevant in all the world. So one of the elements and again, so you previously mentioned it, and I I told you I wanted to follow back up on it, is dealing with the younger generation. some of the biggest stacks in the room come from some of the shortest members of the audience. and it's just a reality across the board, particularly in TCG. But do not discount the fact that there's some very young men and women. Running around with cash that are very deeply involved in the hobby in one way or the other, and oftentimes it seems to be on the financial level in terms of what they're buying and selling. and I wanted to pick your brain a bit on that as well. the comfort level of dealing with the younger generation. I always tend to prefer to trade, although I've gotten into scenarios with with dollar deals. Sometimes parents are involved, sometimes they're not. What's your comfort level when it comes to that sort of thing, which is a big reality for vendors at these shows? Jonathan Crawford: Sure. I mean, I think for me personally, because I have an eight year old son, I try to think of how would I want a vendor to treat my son and then try to treat everybody else's kids kind of the same way, basically. which is to say, you know, be be honest, first of all. If they have I had a few instances, not not this past weekend, but previously of kid comes up with a card. He says, any interest in trading for this. I'm like, Okay, sure, no problem. what you know, what is it worth? Like how much do you how do you want for it? And they're like, I don't know, or like ten dollars. So I look it up on the collector app and it's worth I don't know, forty or fifty dollars. So I show them, I'm like, Okay, it's actually worth a lot more than that. And they're like, I had no idea. So I feel like honesty, even though that seems like such a basic thing. I'm sure you and I have both heard stories of vendors, dealers not being honest with kids specifically, we're talking about that. and so I think that's an important thing. Again, the education piece to me is something that's really important. We want to set these young people up on the right path. We want to build lifelong collectors. and so if we're, you know, trying to take advantage of them not knowing how to comp or, you know, what the most recent sailors or whatever, we're we're doing a disservice to them and to the community in in in general, right? Like we want them to have good experiences. Cartel: I think what you're touching on i is transparency is super crucial. transparency is number one in in my book when it comes to dealing And it's funny when I say that because there's multiple generations below me. when it comes to dealing with the kids, all that other stuff I think is is basic fundamental. We wanna be honest. Look, a caring instinct kicks in automatically, which is very unique. That doesn't really kick in when you're an adult dealing with an adult, especially the the higher the dollar value. But no matter the dollar value, when a kid is involved, There's there's a bit of you know, there's an emotional aspect that kicks in where you wanna be You want to be caring, and that kind of will put you at a quote unquote disadvantage. And you may think that I'm using terms that are inappropriate, but am I using terms inappropriate when these kids are spending thousands of dollars and tossing it around, these young influencers? I'm I think I'm using the right terms. And you know, you talk about the aspect of kids being taken advantage of. One one can easily talk about the aspect of a lot of. These kids are ready to take advantage of a situation as well. And without getting into specifics, you know, you may trust a kid quicker than you may someone else because they are a kid, or you just want to get a deal done and make them happy, only to find out that the card that they represented as what you assume to be a near mint card is far from near-mint. so I've heard story b stories both ways. But nonetheless, transparency. Jonathan Crawford: I I guess to just yeah, j just to clarify, w I think we're talking about different age groups too, right? Like in my mind I'm thinking of like the Cartel: Maybe. Jonathan Crawford: the five year olds, six year olds, seven year olds. Cartel: Well, no, if if we're talking about the five year olds, the the actions are simple. There's a lot of giving cards away for free, there's a lot of advice, Jonathan Crawford: Right. Cartel: there's a lot of kindness. I am talking, of course, about closer to you know, we're we're talking about Davis once he's in high school, kind of thing. Jonathan Crawford: Totally, Cartel: You know what I mean? So that that's what I meant. But but I think both of what Jonathan Crawford: yes. For sure. Yep. Cartel: we touched on make sense because it still applies. It applies all the way up into high school. but it's an interesting conversation in my opinion that we just had here that you don't often hear about and it is a big aspect of the in person hobby that you have to think about. And I love, you know, the fact that look, just in general, when you're when you're in the hobby space, when you're working with companies affiliated with the hobby or doing shows meet a lot of kids, you form some great friendships and bonds, you help out quite a bit. And the goal in my brain is always to give them the amazing experience I always have from so many adults that guided me when it came to the hobby or educated me or helped me out. and they were people you could look up to. And then of course there were people you had to be wary of that you had to be a little bit more careful around. but I always strive to make sure that if I am gonna deal with someone in that age group, no matter the situation, whether we're doing a deal or they're just needing me. You know, when I worked downtown, there was kids they came in and they would ask for my autograph and stuff, and they were just starting collecting. That's exciting. You want to get them on the right path, you want to educate them, help them out. I would oftentimes just try to tell them that it's not all about opening an expensive box of cards. And get a PC. Start a collection of some sort. Get it get get into collecting before you get into the financial aspect. So on tonight's cards news roundup, which is an important part of every show, we're just gonna kind of look back on what's been going on in the UFC, MMA in general, and professional wrestling in general. Although we're gonna skew very heavily towards the TKO products. We are not TKO plants, we are not sponsored by TKO, but we are gonna skew towards them. They are the most mainstream. If you want to hear things that are more specific and you know, esoteric. Comment down below. How about that, Jonathan? I've been waiting to say that. Comment down below. Follow. Click buttons. This is a microphone. I'm the cartel. Just you know, give us an idea of what you'd like to hear about. But in the meantime, you're gonna hear about the UFC in the WWE, and this past weekend was awesome. It was very Mexican influenced in in in honor of Mexican Independence Day. we had UFC Noche, where Gene Silva one arm choked a mof. And that's very rare. You don't see that every day, the one-arm choke. I of course was hoping to see a very quick Gene Silva finish, whether it be knockout or submission. Mission and he spent the first round doing nothing. So I don't want to talk too much about that, but the funny thing is, whenever I get kind of slapped in the face with that kind of thing, it's all there if you're a fan and you're watching the fighting nerds in particular, they need a little bit of time to take in information. Carlos Pratz, Hoofy, they're taking in the info, they're getting their reads, they're getting the distance, and then they take action and they execute. they are they are are veritable mixed martial art machines. So in looking back it kind of makes sense. There were some other great performances as well. I'm just taking a look at my notes here. As I mentioned to you last episode, Tommy McMillan and Freaky Rahiki, Tommy Gunn, they they it was the fight of the night. It was incredible. It was an unbelievable exhibition of hu of the human will and spirit. And the reason why I compared it to Oba and Braun is you basically have these two undefeated young guys that have Have the potential to be a part of the future of the sport, and Tommy Gunn was triumphant in that one. so really amazing event overall. UFC's been hitting it out of the park lately. They've been killing it with the Dana White Contender Series. You and I are recording shortly after the sixth week, I believe it was, and two like crazy knockouts, one in the main event, one featuring a huge prospect. don't have his name down but unbelievable performances unbelievable show to watch as of late there was triple mania which as you know john I was really excited about and the main thing that I loved about triple mania particularly night one was Axiom paying tribute to Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio at Halloween Havoc with that top rope springboard DDT unbelievable and Ray of course wore in outfit Reminiscent of his Phantom outfit at Halloween Havoc, which is considered one of the greatest matches of all time. It's not my greatest match of all time, Joe. But it is considered one of the greatest matches of all it's not even my greatest WCW match of all time. That would actually be Rey Mysterio and Psychosis at Bash at the Beach. The same Bash at the Beach that featured the debut of the NWO. It was the first match of the show. That's the Jonathan Crawford: Mm-hmm. Cartel: greatest. that's the greatest modern North American match to me. If you want to classify it as cruiser rate, do whatever you gotta do. But that that's what it is for me. There were a lot of title changes over the last few days. Sami Zaynes the champion again. I I don't Don't understand it, I less said about it the better for me. If you wanna, I'll I'll I'll throw it to you in a second here. Stephanie Vicare recaptured the title from Liv Morgan in Chile because she's Chilean and that was wild. It was at a house show. That's cool. Reminds it's a very 80s vibe, house show title change. but the one title change that they did not go with on on a weekend of casual title changes on Monday Night Raw, which everyone agrees was a sensational show. Every match was great. Dragon Lee Chad Gable was great for the IC title. I could have used a little bit of less of Chad Gable immediately hugging and consoling Dragon Lee after the after the ankle lock like he's his little baby. Chad, relax. Every everybody loves you, Chad. Relax. Stop petting Dragon Lee. It's funny, I I I pet my dragon. I should not say that out loud. Someone will take that out of context. and we're gonna Jonathan Crawford: We're clipping that. We're clipping that for sure. Cartel: clip that. and then you know, so getting back to that. Unbelievable walkout, unbelievable entrance from Penta. Unbelievable atmosphere in Mexico. The culmination of the entire days events, the week's events. That is when you do a title change. Not in Chile. on a on a on a non-televised show, I'm not saying you shouldn't do a title change in in Chile, please. I love my Chilean friends. but you get what I'm saying. Everything was set up perfectly to create a legendary moment. Unforgettable legendary moment. Roman brought his work boots. Rare to see. probably my favorite Roman Reigns match of all time. The guy came to work. He sold the arm. Some people don't think he sold it enough. He sold the the the the sacrifice. By the way, I know I'm yapping quite a bit here, John, but the sacrifice was originally a finisher that Panty created in Lucha Underground, and it was so devastating, not only would it end the match as a finisher, his final finisher, it usually wrote characters off TV. So literally he would break their arm, and then you know they'd have to get on the stretcher and off they go with their broken arm. But Roman Reigns, being the superhero that he is, was able to withstand it, get through the pain, and he defeated Penta. It was essentially the super kick versus the Superman punch, and the spear versus the Mexican destroyer, with a little bit of sprinklings of the drive-by, and what's the penta move that I'm forgetting? The penta driver. Jonathan Crawford: Yeah. Cartel: but they didn't they didn't go for it. I don't wanna talk about it anymore. You talk to me a little bit about your thoughts on the recent ruffling happening. Jonathan Crawford: Well, I hate I hate to say it, Mr. Cartel, but I did tell you so. I did call it. I said I don't see Roman giving up the belt right now. would it have been an amazing, incredible moment? Of course it would have been. The crowd would have gone crazy, the celebration would have been amazing. I just I just don't see a world where Roman Reigns isn't a world champion at this point in time. Not to say that it's, you know, it can't change but I just think right now with where the roster is, I just think it makes sense to have Roman still as champion. And I'll I'll tell you this, I wasn't expecting Sami Zayn to be champion again after his seven day reign, whatever it was previously. Cartel: Yes. Jonathan Crawford: I mean, then I started thinking I'm like, well, why do they do that? Maybe they need a another heel, you know, for somebody to to chase and a heel to antagonize it. I don't know. But I mean to be fair though to Sammy, he is getting a lot of heel heat. You know, he's finally he's over as a heel. so maybe they're just going with it for now. Who knows how long it's gonna last? presumably longer than seven days, whatever his previous reign was. And it's funny the the Vacare title change, because you actually broke the news to me at the Cartel: Ha ha. Jonathan Crawford: CSC show in the morning. I went to bed somewhat early and I didn't actually check my Instagram feed. So I didn't even know that the title change had happened or that there was a title match the night before because it was at a house show. so shout out to you for breaking the news to me on the women's title change there. But what an incredible moment that was. and then and then I saw later on the IG video of Becky giving the the going for the count and then giving the middle fingers to Liv. so that was really awesome to see. Cartel: the big title changes came with celebrity referees. Becky for Stephanie and Rey Mysterio for what I completely neglected to mention, the main event of Triple Mania, when El Grande Americano finally became Triple A mega campion against Dirty Dom, who I consistently called Daddy Dom last week for some reason, for some strange very psychological reason pot potentially. yeah. Jonathan Crawford: That's okay, man. Whatever, call whatever you want to. Cartel: So ultimately you could say they want more stability in the world title scene versus the WWE title scene, which has a lot of people involved. Kevin Owens, Cody Rhodes. I was telling you my theory was that Royce Keys would get involved and his group of 619ers or 69ers, I don't know what they are. 963ers, 416ers, 647ers. I don't know. But I I thought, you know, get them involved. They were already threatening him. He loses the title. I didn't have much of a plan after that though. I I don't know where you would have gone specifically with Penta as champion. We got all the bloodline stuff going on. I guess that was that was the error of my thinking, was I didn't really get past what would happen. Interference, Penta wins. Nonetheless. It's it's all over and Penta is now over in more ways than he's ever been. He's I think legitimized now as a top of the card guy. He had an intercontinental run, had a great match with Roman. That's kinda like being anointed, in my opinion. And yeah, overall good stuff. Go ahead. Jonathan Crawford: Think I think the match, the match itself, Roman and Penta, I really it it kind of reiterated to me how great Roman has become from when he started out as the big dog and he was getting forced down people's throw it by Vince McMahon and everything like that, and how he's been able to really hone his skills and j it was like a master class of The moves matter to an extent, but what you do between the moves is even more important. Right. And I was just mesmerized by watching Roman just soaking in the the booze and everything that the crowd was cheering at him and like just just so so good the Roman's work Cartel: Take time, take some. Jonathan Crawford: on on a on a Monday night raw no less too. So just a fantastic match. Cartel: Yeah. And someone there was someone at CSC came in looking specifically for a Roman Reigns card. They picked up that chrome autograph. They traded a Messi for it, I believe. D what was do remember what the card was? It's like a die-cut autograph chrome card. Jonathan Crawford: yeah, it was a Roman Reigns twenty twenty five tops chrome. It was like the main event. I think it's called the main event autograph, numbered to one fifty. I I saw it earlier in the day actually. I Cartel: Yeah, yeah. Someone came specifically to get a Roman Reigns card and that I think that was the big rustling deal that yeah, you s you did see it, yeah. Jonathan Crawford: I should have bought it earlier, but anyway, that's okay. It's neither here nor there. Cartel: I was surprised. You weren't fast enough. but yeah, Roman Reigns definitely a force has has always been a force in the hobby. I would hope Penta Penta's kind of been underwhelming in the hobby for me so far, which is not to say he's been it's been bad or anything. People do look for his autos, they like them. You've moved some penta stuff, I've moved some penta stuff, but I'm just I'm I I don't think it's at the level it could be. so we'll see where it goes from here. He is, after all, a ninja skeleton. before he became Mr. Like Be Nice to Kids and WWE, he was like a ninja skeleton demon from hell. So there is always the ch there is always the chance he'll he'll do the heel turn at a certain point. But anyway, ninja skeletons in general, in my opinion, are pretty cool. Jonathan Crawford: No arguments here. Cartel: Wrapping things up, I don't know really of all the main we'll we'll put more into the news element in the future in future broadcasts, but in the UFC there there is a big show coming up this weekend, UFC three thirty one. maybe I'll even post picks at some point. Maybe we'll do that as part of tonight's card, Jonathan. and sorry my computer was just notifying me or something there. Gable Stevenson is fighting his second UFC fight. former WWE project that did not pan out, who is now under the guidance of John Bones Jones in the UFC, his first his first fight, a successful knockout. This one will probably be the same. They're lining up cans for him until he gets to the point where they feel comfortable putting him in with contenders. But he has Rookie cards in the WWE sets. He has rookie autographs. Jonathan knows we don't want to talk a lot about the pain of how we missed out on some opportunities. I know you were up for it, but we were not aggressive enough because there were a couple of Gable Stevenson super collectors that kind of started moving that stuff when he went to the UFC. But nonetheless, his second fight's coming up. A lot of people can make a lot of money on it because it's pretty easy to smash knockout on that one. there's some good fights. There's there's good fights. Up and down the board on 331, obviously starting with the the the main title, the title fight. Josh Van is finally gonna take on Pantoja, and I think Pantoja is gonna win. That's my pick on that one, although a lot of people are picking Van. Pantoja, of course, injured in that first fight, hurt his arm within within 30 seconds of the fight. Cheeto Vera versus Charles Jordan is gonna be a fun fight. Robolis is fighting, he's taking on Taitoy Basa. there's even like the further you down on the card Bruno Ferrero and Edmund Shabazan that's gonna be that's gonna be entertaining and and of course ewel ew baranowski the guy who just fights Daniel Cormier they're just fighting out there and Alonzo Manafield that is going to be a guaranteed someone is getting sparked in that one so it's gonna be a fun show to watch like I mentioned already I like Pantoja and I like Huffy a lot Mauricio Huffy taking on Saruki and I know that's wild. We all love Armin. And Armin is incredible. But he's in there with a whirlwind. I'm not giving you an official pick here, but I like Mauricio Hufi in that one quite a bit. am I missing anything when it comes to news or is there some WWE stuff that I skipped over? I am I did skip over Tom Aspinall unfortunately. I probably skipped over it because it hurts so much, but he gave up the the UFC heavyweight title. Can't get things going with the with the injuries to his eye. one of the saddest modern UFC stories in my opinion. The guy had all the potential in the world, had all the tools in the world. He was like a Kane Velazquez type of heavyweight, not in stature, but in skill. And sad to see it, sad to see the reaction by so many fans who are critical of him. but it's a sad, sad, sad state of affairs nonetheless. can you think of anything on the wrestling end of things? We didn't talk about El Grande enough, but you know, I don't know if you watched the match. It's not like they were gonna live up to the mask versus mask match. But it was fun and Grande did the thing and the Mexican people love him and it's wild. His name is like The Great American. And it's twenty twenty-six and today he visited like like an orphanage. I th actually think it was like a I I think it was like a cancer war. And and I I cr I wept looking at this Instagram post of him with the kids. It's unreal. It's eighties vibes in Mexico in twenty twenty six. And just a cultural phenomenal. I don't know if you have any words on that or any other news as we chug along here. Jonathan Crawford: I'll be honest with you, I still don't understand how he is so over in Mexico as El Grande Americano. It's amazing. Cartel: It started as a rib, a rib aimed directly, Jonathan Crawford: Right. Cartel: and and by the way, people don't talk about this enough. It was a rib aimed directly at Mexico and Lucha Libra with bad intentions, in my opinion. And it can and it has become this. And it has become this because of the Mexican people and how incredible. Cool they are to have reversed the script, flipped the script, and forced the company with a very bad reputation for these sort of things when it comes to international affairs, forced their hand. and we'll get into it deeper on another podcast because I love to nerd out about stuff like that. And I'm gonna talk about the whole thing, starting with the skit where Chad Gable gets a mask because he's sick of losing to luchadors. And the fact that he's built from the Gulf of America, you know, and you know, so and Lake Lake America here in Canada and all the way to El Grande Americano saving orphans from a train. So we'll talk about that. Jonathan Crawford: that's one thing that I love about professional wrestling is just the absurdity of the grande americano character and how you know going from where it started to where it is now, how it's been co-opted by the Mexican people to be this amazing character and everything like that. You know, people people like this, wr wrestling is fake. Like, how can you watch that? Like, it doesn't matter. It's entertainment, right? It's meant to be something that you can emotionally invest in. It's the storyline, it's the characters, it's the audience involvement. You know, it's about connecting with other people it's it's more than just it's fake. You know what I mean? So I think this is the perfect example of how professional wrestling is so cool, quite frankly. Cartel: Yes. the great James Chance once said that he prefers the ridiculous to the sublime, as do I. However, wrestling professional wrestling is both ridiculous and sublime. And anyone who hasn't seen the Mascara Contra Mascara match needs to go out and see it. because it is the match of the year. It's a very special match. That's the El Grande's, Chad Gable and Kaiser Ludwig Kaiser. say something else. Ludwig Kaiser. it really is an amazing special match that people need to to check out And speaking of Contra, I just wanted to throw this in here. And the English language. The word versus, which used to be a television channel in the United States as well, and it's a great word, versus TCC versus SCC, tonight, in a street fight for the intercontinental title. Versus is a great word, and we've lost it because everyone of a certain generation has decided to say V or Vers. V S Period is a short form of verses. There's no verse unless you are spitting verses. there's no such thing as verse when it comes to people coming up against one another, versus one another. So I'm just putting it out there into the universe in the hopes that one or two people hear me. It's versus. And then they start using it and then it snowballs from there. VS is versus. It's not Viz or V or VS. On a scale of one to ten, how much am I losing my mind right now, Jonathan? Am I at a ten yet? Jonathan Crawford: Yeah you tell me. Cartel: Well well, I'm gonna get to a ten in losing my mind in our weekly show-off where we talk about cards we've moved or picked up or that we wanna show off. And this is not a card, but I'm gonna get us started off with a comic book from 1982. I know I know you would have liked a shot at it, but for some reason you didn't take a shot at it. It's a Pope John Paul II. Comic book from Marvel 1982 CGC graded. Picked that up at like a bookstore very cheaply so that I could sell it to someone very cheaply but at a profit. And the profit was big. And not not you know in the in the hundreds or thousands of dollars, but everyone got a great deal when it came to that one. not a lot of people knew it existed. in the realm of the pop culture craze that's going on with cards today, it certainly translates to comic books. There is a crossover and paper process. A lot of people are trying to find first appearances in comic books. You and I before the podcast started were talking about Hulk Hogan in comic books. What like how is Hulk Hogan not in comic books? You mentioned the Kiss comic book with with the blood. You you know, and and all these other first appearances. And what did we discover? What are we breaking here on tonight's card? that would be the the the Marvel Comics. what is it? Issue It was 45. Marvel Comics presents issue 45, 1990, which features the story written by Peter David, who's a very famous Marvel writer, in which the Hulk takes on Hulk Hogan. And again, not many people listening right now, that's fine, we're just getting started. But let's use this as a market a marker, Jonathan, to see where that goes from here. Because that might be the first Hulk Hogan appearance. It kind of blows my mind that it's 1990. But nonetheless, worth pointing out to our wrestling collectors. for the actual stuff that I'm gonna show off today, I have to start with now you're you're gonna Jonathan, TCC is gonna there's gonna be something right here or right over there. It's gonna be somewhere. It's gonna be floating. to be a floating head. One day I'm gonna be a floating head. And there'll be things floating and my head will be floating. And I'll be giving you the news that everyone gave you 63 times before you heard it from me. but the first one is this amazing Grande Americano autograph. It is Grande Americano, isn't it? Unless unless you and I just you know are ignoring the fact that Ludwig Kaiser has been missing in action for so long. But that's a chrome auto out of ten. I love the design. I want to get your input on the on that design when I'm done yapping. I think it's a super cool card. And that is El Grande Americano. Not everyone is dying to have the Ludwig Kaiser autographs, but until we have an El Grande, because so far I think we just have the Chad Gable Grande's, and they seem to sell well. They seem to sell well. So it's kind of a reverse kind of thing going on there in this reverse world of ours. Now, this is the Stephanie Vicare that I picked up shortly before the title win, which was a good score for me, timing-wise. Gorgeous royalty out of 25, just a gorgeous card. It's a really nice looking card. I don't love the pillar design. Could be a little more aesthetically appealing, but the autograph is beautiful and it's a great card. And and then finally, I have a new Patty Pimblett rookie card. And Patty Pimblett is big, big, big stuff for the UFC when it comes to superstar power. There's not a ton of superstars. They have a bit of an issue there, but Patty is certainly a superstar, and I think all of his stuff is a great pickup right now. You want to pick that up now, wait for the fight announcement, the build towards the fight. If you truly believe he's gonna be a champion, hold hold tight. If you don't think he's gonna be a champion, you're gonna have a big opportunity every time he's about to fight. That's that's my end of things. How about you? Jonathan Crawford: well at CSC in particular I picked up a handful, an assortment, an array of WWE cards. it was only four, so it really wasn't that many, but three of Right, yeah. Cartel: Still it's still an array. It counts as an array. Jonathan Crawford: Three of which have sold already. so I only have one left, which I'm surprised that I have so the one that I have left is actually an Obafemi select rookie card, not an autograph. But it is it is a parallel. So I'm surprised that nobody scooped that one yet. Cartel: You have it left because it may become a cartel card very soon. Jonathan Crawford: That is entirely possible. Maybe in Montreal. We we'll find out. so the other ones was a Seth Rowland or Seth Rowland. Seth Rollins Cartel: Rollin' rollin', rollin'. Jonathan Crawford: Shadow Fred Durst. it was a Seth Rollins select blue autograph from twenty twenty three and also Kevin Owens Revolution Auto and finally Sol Ruca Prism Rookie. out of out of ninety-nine. so I posted those earlier today and those three have all sold today. I picked up some nice Pokemon cards as well as I mentioned earlier in the podcast. some nice slabs So I picked up a nice Typhlosion from the the e-reader series, PSA eight, which I feel like is a decent enough grade for for a card from that era, and a few other pickups there. Just following up on last week's conversation about Eddie Guerrero's autograph cards. So I can finally show this off now that it's been professionally protected by my friend Joe at Protect. Not really going to show too well on here. I'll put the picture up, it'll look nicer. But my my recently acquired Eddie Guerrero PSA 8.5 Auto 9. And This is the nicest nine autograph I've ever seen in my life. You saw it in person as well at the show. And the autograph is just absolutely gorgeous. and the the seller was nice enough to include the actual pack that he pulled the autograph from Cartel: Yeah. Jonathan Crawford: from, the card from. super cool. and yeah, I'm just thrilled to have Cartel: Yeah. Jonathan Crawford: have this second copy of Eddie Guerrero's autograph. Cartel: So so this so this is the the legendary card from the legendary set that was recently pulled from a pack. Unbelievable. And and is it the highest graded? Jonathan Crawford: So there are maybe th four PSA nines, but Cartel: Okay. Jonathan Crawford: this in in a dual grade is the highest in a dual grade. So this is a pop one in dual grade. Cartel: Okay. And in and in my opinion, we were looking at and I inspected the card myself and of course look when you're inspecting a card through plastic, it's very different than ha holding it in your hand in in that way. And of course it was not a professional retrospective on the card, but you could, you know, if it if that label said nine ten, nine for the card, auto ten, I would have just nodded my head. And that's a whole other discussion, the concept of pop control, because that is such a special card and man man, crispy corners and edges that you don't see in that set. I've I've owned various there's so many cool cards in that set. I had a I had a Damien666, was it him as Damien66? I I've had so many Cyclope, I think is who I'm referring to. and the cards are just beat up. but the the the the variety in that set, unbelievable, unbelievable set. and yours was an amazing example. That's that's a hell of a card. That's a hell of a pickup, hell of a card. and the fact that it came with the pack, wow, amazing stuff. so with that, with that bit of nerding out on really cool stuff, which is what this is really all about here on tonight's card. I think it's time to move on. We'll be back in another another broadcast. Very soon. We may be visited by the cartel. Potentially. There's always the chance. Jonathan Crawford: I hope we I hope we are. Cartel: There is always the chance that we might see the full-on return of the cartel. guys, thank you so much for hearing us out. And any parting words there, Toronto card collector? Jonathan Crawford: Well, all I have to say is that I hope you bring this version of the cartel to Montreal with us 'cause I think that's gonna be a great show and you know, everybody needs a little cartel in their life. Cartel: You are of course referring to Le Cartel. And and yes, I think we will be seeing Le Cartel in Montreal, Sacre Bleu. The bearded boys will be there. And guys, what I have to tell you is that tonight's card.